International
Conflict Minerals: Trump Order on Conflict Minerals Would Send Warlords Carte Blanche Signal, Say Critics
Mar 18, 2017
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Joan Leishman, CBC news
A battle involving some of America's most powerful men and some of Africa's most powerful warlords is being waged in Donald Trump's White House. At…
Myanmar: Banana Plantation Breaches Protected Forests
Mar 17, 2017
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Eleven
Kachin State residents are reportedly seizing land from protected forests and selling it to Chinese entrepreneurs who want to grow tissue-culture bananas. An acre is…
South Sudan: South Sudan Government to Blame for Famine, Still Buying Arms: UN Report
Mar 17, 2017
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Michelle Nichols, Reuters
South Sudan's government is mainly to blame for famine in parts of the war-torn country, yet President Salva Kiir is still boosting his forces using…
China/Philippines/South China Sea: China Plans Station on Disputed South China Sea Shoal
Mar 17, 2017
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Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press
China plans to build an environmental monitoring station on a South China Sea shoal at the heart of a territorial dispute with the Philippines, potentially…
Myanmar: Dam Projects Must Be Suspended until Peace Achieved, Say Environmental Orgs
Mar 16, 2017
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Aong Jaeneh and Laignee Barron, Burma News International
In downtown Mawlamyine Capital of Mon State, a crowd of 200 gathered on March 14 to stage a protest against hydropower projects in conflict zones.…
India/Pakistan: Delhi Returns to the Table after Water War Threats
Mar 16, 2017
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Express Tribune
Pakistan and India are set to resume stalled water-sharing talks later this month under a 1960 treaty that the Indian prime minister had threatened to…
Sierra Leone: Pastor Unearths 706-Carat Giant Diamond in Sierra Leone
Mar 16, 2017
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Agence France-Presse
A pastor working in the mines of eastern Sierra Leone has unearthed a 706-carat diamond. The large stone was discovered by Emmanuel Momoh, one of…
Iraq: Meet the Iraqi Firefighters Battling ISIS' Oil Fires [Photos]
Mar 16, 2017
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Olivier Laurent, Time
For almost a year now, oil fields around Mosul have been on fire. As Iraqi forces launched an assault on Islamic State-held cities, retreating militants…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Analysis: Iraqi KRG Faces Obstacles to Maintain Crude Oil Export Quality
Mar 16, 2017
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Platts
The regional government of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan appears to be struggling to maintain the quality of its oil exports, just as it has signed a…
Conflict Minerals: Parliament Adopts Binding Law on Conflict Minerals
Mar 16, 2017
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Cécile Barbière, EURACTIV
After two and a half years of debate, the European Parliament on Thursday definitively adopted the new rules on mineral imports from conflict zones, which…
Liberia: Amid Delays, Citizens Increase Pressure on Lawmakers to Pass Land Right Act
Mar 16, 2017
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Gbatemah Senah, Bush Chicken
Just over two years since the proposed bill was submitted to the Legislature for passage into law, the Liberian Land Rights Act has continued to…
Afghanistan: Could New Poppy Strain Be Boosting Afghanistan's Opium Crop?
Mar 16, 2017
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Gul Ahmad Ehsan, Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Karam Khan, an opium poppy farmer from Helmand, is delighted that business is booming. New strains of seeds mean that poppy could be sewn and…
Myanmar: Battling for Blood Jade
Mar 15, 2017
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Hannah Beech, Time
While conflict diamonds have yielded Hollywood scripts and rap lyrics, jade has largely escaped international scrutiny. Last October, then U.S. President Barack Obama lifted sanctions…
Timor-Leste: Timor-Leste Could Be 'Architect of Its Own Demise', Gas Treaty Inquiry Told
Mar 15, 2017
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Australian Associated Press
Timor-Leste’s decision to rip up a treaty with Australia on the carve-up of future revenue from Greater Sunrise oil and gas reserve in the Timor…
Russia/US: Trump's Russian Connections May Kill 'Peace Park'
Mar 15, 2017
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Corbin Hiar, E&E News
With increased scrutiny of the Trump administration's possible ties to the Kremlin, a long-running National Park Service effort to promote cultural and scientific connections between…
Liberia: Chief Justice Korpkor Vows to Protect Property Rights in Liberia
Mar 15, 2017
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FrontPageAfrica
Chief Justice Francis S. Korkpor says the Supreme Court has taken steps to protect the property right of citizens and has therefore warned judges of…
Colombia: Colombia's Coca Production Soars to Highest Level in Two Decades, US Says
Mar 14, 2017
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Associated Press
Coca production in Colombia has surged to levels unseen in two decades of US eradication efforts, according to a new White House report. Cultivation of…
Afghanistan: Funding Terrorism: Taliban Earns $15M a Year from Pistachios in Afghanistan
Mar 14, 2017
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John Walsh, International Business Times
The Taliban has earned $15 million annually from pistachio crops in the Afghanistan's northwestern Kushki Kuhna District. The terror group profited from the region’s two…
Uganda: General Angina Orders Arrest of UPDF Captain over Land Grabbing
Mar 13, 2017
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The Monitor
The deputy coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Lt Gen. Charles Angina has ordered the arrest of the OWC coordinator for Mbarara Municipality, Captain David…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Intrepid Skiers Break New Ground
Mar 13, 2017
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Will Coldwell, Guardian
In January, Untamed Borders ran what was “probably the first ever commercial ski trip” to the country, taking a group of six intrepid travellers to…
EU: 2017 Anti-Corruption Focus on Mines, Security, Courts
Mar 12, 2017
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Tamim Hamid, TOLOnews
The European Union’s anti-corruption drive for 2017 in Afghanistan will focus on key sectors such as the illegal extraction of minerals from mines and corruption…
Afghanistan: To Interest Trump, Afghanistan Dangles Investment Opportunity
Mar 12, 2017
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Michael Crowley, Politico
When Donald Trump said in late January that America should have “kept the oil” after invading Iraq — “To the victor go the spoils,” he…
Conflict Minerals: Mining Companies Have Dug Themselves out of a Hole
Mar 11, 2017
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Economist
For mining investors there is something sinfully alluring about Glencore, an Anglo-Swiss metals conglomerate. It is the world’s biggest exporter of coal, a singularly unfashionable…
Myanmar: Water-Saving Tech, Vegetable Gardens Grow Hope in Myanmar's Dry Zone
Mar 10, 2017
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Thin Lei Win, Reuters
Myanmar recently emerged from decades of military dictatorship only to face a bigger existential threat. The Dry Zone, an area comprising 58 townships in Mandalay,…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Baghdad-Erbil Oil Disputes on Hold until Mosul Liberation
Mar 9, 2017
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Al-Monitor
Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi, speaking to Al-Monitor during a visit to the United States to meet with US government officials and energy executives, addressed…
Myanmar: Conservationists: Myanmar Wildlife Sanctuary under Threat from China-Backed Dam
Mar 9, 2017
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Ron Corben, Voice of America
Conservationists are calling for support to protect a major wildlife sanctuary in Myanmar’s northern Karen state they say is threatened by a China-financed dam on…
DRC: Dispute over DRC Mining Licence Goes to Court
Mar 8, 2017
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BizCommunity
In a modern-day version of claim jumping a Mauritius-registered private resources investment firm is seeking legal redress against an Australian-listed junior resources company over contested…
Conflict Minerals: Apple Pledges to Treat Congolese Cobalt as a Conflict Mineral amid Reports of Child Labor
Mar 8, 2017
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Jennier McKevitt, Supply Chain Dive
Apple's supply chain woes continue as its attempts to abide by ethical sourcing standards falter in the wake of ongoing abuses in the cobalt mineral…
Myanmar: Government to Return Land to Farmers
Mar 7, 2017
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Min Thant and Htay Hla Aung, Eleven
Dr Soe Than, regional minister for agriculture, livestock and irrigation, said: “We’re assessing the land. It shouldn’t take long. Within this year we will be…
Afghanistan: Enhancing the Success of Afghanistan’s Women Farmers
Mar 7, 2017
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International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
Against the odds, a new agricultural outreach model targeting rural women is taking shape in Afghanistan – and delivering on its promise of empowerment, greater…